Android 17
Android 17 (人造人間17号, Jinzōningen Jū Nana-go) makes his debut in "The Androids Awake!", the 349th chapter of the ''Dragon Ball'' manga, issued on March 10, 1992. He makes his first animated appearance in "Nightmare Comes True", the 133rd episode of Dragon Ball Z , which premiered on April 8, 1992. Dr. Gero's seventeenth creation, Android 17 was designed to serve Gero's vendetta against Goku, who overthrew the Red Ribbon Army as a child. Despite his interests not deviating from this expectation, Android 17 takes it upon himself to murder Gero who is uncooperative with Android 18's curiosity in activating Android 16. Android 17 has shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes. Underneath his hair, he has two gold hoop earrings. Around his neck, he wears an orange bandanna. He wears a short sleeve black shirt with the Red Ribbon Army's logo, and underneath, he wears a long sleeve white shirt. He wears a belt to hold up his blue jeans which have a tear just above the knee of the left leg. Just below the first belt he wears another belt with a gun holster and another pouch. 17 wears green socks and blue and white shoes. During his cameo in the Buu Saga, he wears a blue jacket and, during the Super 17 saga, he wears a tan, knee-length jacket. Initially a reckless anarchist, 17 later reveals himself to be little more than a rebel without a cause. When he is revived by Shenron because of a wish that restored both the lives of all of Cell's victims and all the damage caused during the Cell Games, Android 17 goes on to live a life of peace in obscurity. At the end of Dragon Ball Z, 17 provided energy for Goku's Super Spirit Bomb to destroy Kid Buu. He reappears in Dragon Ball GT when scientists Gero and Dr. Myuu brainwash him telepathically and he is eventually merged with Hell Fighter 17, a Machine Mutant version of himself created by the scientists in Hell. Yet even without the ability to maintain his mind, 17 still exhibits some of his sensitivity, especially towards his twin sister. This is in stark contrast to his alternate self from Future Trunks's timeline, where he is a murderous sociopath who cares for no one but himself and 18. Android 17 is considered a Z Fighter, mainly because he has killed sinister characters such as Dr. Gero (twice) and Dr. Myuu; and he has helped to defeat other major villains such as Cell and Buu. While under control, he forced his transformed-self to reveal his own weak point, thus allowing Goku to kill him. Android 17's strongest personal trait is his sense of self. He does his best to resist the will of Dr. Gero (or later, Dr. Myuu), and fights a futile battle against Imperfect Cell to assert his identity and his pride. He has an energy pistol which sees use by Future Android 17 against humans, although it is assumed to be generally ineffective against the likes of the Z Fighters. This pistol can be seen holstered to his character model in the video game Budokai 3. Android 17 is the first artificial human designed by Dr. Gero to be created by fitting a human being with cybernetics. As a mortal man, he and his unnamed sister (the eventual Android 18) were runaways whom Gero kidnapped and conducted experiments on, resulting in their transformation into cyborgs. Gero's blueprints for Android 17 in FUNimation's dub of the Imperfect Cell Saga suggest otherwise however, instead citing that 17 and 18 "are made up of organic substances padded after human cells". On the other hand, aside from nothing there suggesting that the human cells cited couldn't be their own original human cells, every other account of the series, including biography sections within video games and a piece in a later saga within the same dub (albeit with the statement specifically about 18), agree with the former. Android 17 and his twin sister Android 18 are awakened by their "creator", Dr. Gero, when he is pressed into a desperate situation by the Z Fighters, who have surpassed his expectations because of the intense training they endured after Gero collected their statistic data. Severely disloyal to Gero in contrast to the android models which precede himself and his sister, Android 17 turns rogue on the scientist, impaling and decapitating him. Android 17 and 18 proceed to activate Android 16, and decide to challenge Goku not because they have been commanded to do so, but merely as a form of entertainment. When Vegeta (as a Super Saiyan) intercepts the trio, 17 and 18 implore 16 to step in and fight, interested to see him in action (their main purpose for activating him in the first place). Android 16 however refuses to fight him, thus prompting Android 18 to volunteer. When Future Trunks, Krillin, Piccolo and Tien Shinhan arrive as Vegeta's reinforcement, Android 17 hopefully takes the opportunity to ask if 16 will join the fight, though as he initially assumed 16 once again opts not to. At the conclusion of the encounter, thanks to Trunks breaking 17's non-interference truce when he couldn't bear to see Vegeta injured by 18, everyone is rendered incapacitated besides Krillin who is spared so that he may see the others healed by Senzu Beans. This is one of many examples that sets Android 17 (as well as 18) apart from his future timeline counterpart, especially considering they are much stronger in the mainstream timeline than in Future Trunks's future. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Hell Fighter 17 makes his debut in "A Dangerous Union", the 42nd episode of ''Dragon Ball GT'', which premiered on April 16, 1997. A joint effort between Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu, Hell Fighter 17 was designed to locate his android counterpart Android 17 and fuse with him, becoming Super 17. He is essentially identical to Android 17, but by this point the real 17 has acquired a brown jacket. Prior to his fusing with Android 17, he fought Vegeta. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ' 'Super 17 is the powerful fusion of Android 17 and Hell Fighter 17 created by the evil scientists, Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu. After the evil Baby is killed by Goku, peace is thought to have been finally restored. However, in the depths of Hell, two master-minds worked on a horrific plot. Dr. Gero, the evil brilliant scientist who was responsible for all of the androids, and Dr. Myuu, who was responsible for the completion of Baby, teamed up to create the ultimate being. They decided that by merging the normal Android 17, with a machine mutant that they created in Hell, they could create the ultimate android killing machine. Myuu and Gero then used the machine mutant clone to brainwash 17 into joining them, first using both 17s to sync their energies together to open the gates of Hell, allowing themselves and mostly all other previously destroyed villains to escape. The real 17 then asked his twin sister Android 18 to join, but would wind up killing Krillin when he tried to contradict the mutant clone's voice in 17's head, then fending off 18's attack with relative ease. A short time later, 17 reaches his Hell Fighter counterpart, interrupting the latter's fight with Vegeta, at the same time as the Z Fighters. At this point, the two 17s finally fuse together, and transform into the penultimate killing machine, "Super Android 17". The super android then battles Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and Majuub (Goku was trapped in hell) and defeats them all. He also once again kills Dr. Gero, and Myuu reveals that he had programmed Super 17 so that he would have full control, leaving none for Gero. Goku then returns to Earth with some help from Piccolo and Dende. He immediately engages Super 17, and, once transformed into a Super Saiyan 4, is able to fight competently against the android. However, Super 17 is able to absorb all of the energy attacks that Goku unleashes on him, and by the time Goku realizes this, Super 17 has absorbed enough energy to overwhelm the Saiyan. However, Android 18 comes to Goku's aid and distracts Super 17 long enough for Goku to find his weak spot. Eventually, Goku notices that while 17 is in his absorption pose, he has created a shield around him to prevent 18's blasts from reaching him; all the while laughing hysterically. It is at that point that Goku realizes Super 17's sole true weakness: when Super 17 absorbs energy, he is actually vulnerable to attack. Goku charges 17 with the Dragon Fist, blowing a hole straight through him. He then shoots a single powerful Kamehameha wave, that finally kills the super android once and for all. It is later explained that Android 17 had been influencing Super 17 to reveal this weakness and leave himself vulnerable to attack.